We start off in the 1890's with Allan Quartermain visiting a lady friend and then essentially Quartermain tells us an adventure tale of one of his ancestors. There's some weird stuff involved which i won't spoil but thats the gist. This whole setup is by far the most entertaining part. Witty, interesting, and just very fun.

So the main text itself is set in ancient Persia and Egypt. I'm guessing its around the same time as the movie/comic 300, as the Persians are busy fighting the Greeks.

Anyway so as i've said this is an Allan Quartermain story, Quartermain being most well known from [b:King Solomon's Mines|23814|King Solomon's Mines (Allan Quatermain, #1)|H. Rider Haggard|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1418964233s/23814.jpg|575986].
This also acts as a prequel and sequel to another Quartermain novel, [b:The Ivory Child|696070|The Ivory Child|H. Rider Haggard|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348754355s/696070.jpg|682389], so you'd probably want to read that first or a synopsis of it.

The main text of this is pretty standard adventure fare, but the author is well aware of that and tries to fast forward through the boring bits.
He also uses some fortune teller characters who lay out many of the details before they happen. Sort of acknowledging its predictability. So this is not a book which is relying on its plot, not in the broad details anyway.

This is a story which lives in the small moments. It has really distinct characters and a fair amount of humour. There's some real charm here.

It's still a product of its time and as with all Haggard is both sexist and racist, however it also has some very strong female and non-white characters.

Allan Quartermain as a character is often said to be a proto-Indiana Jones, however, he mostly takes on one of two roles in these stories.
Either as a Watson style narrator to some more badass characters' Holmes, or as a Green Hornet-like character. The not-entirely-useless-but-close white man dragged through the adventure by his much more competent ethnic side-kick.
In [b:The Ivory Child|696070|The Ivory Child|H. Rider Haggard|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348754355s/696070.jpg|682389] he was very much the latter, in this he's a little more active but his side-kick and the other characters are still calling most of the shots.

There's some magic and crazy stuff here and some decent action especially towards the end, in fact the end battle seemed suspiciously like that of the 'Pelennor fields' from [b:The Lord of the Rings|33|The Lord of the Rings (The Lord of the Rings, #1-3)|J.R.R. Tolkien|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1411114164s/33.jpg|3462456] :P .
But mostly it was just the charm that kept me going, also its short :) . By far the most likable version of Quartermain i've yet read, even if most of it was technically his ancestor... rather than the modern character but still. I mean its the same character, just from a different time if you see what i mean... how to explain this... ok... its like one of those Tom and Jerry cartoons where they're Musketeers or ancient Romans or something :D . ( )

Clever as it was for Haggard to resurrect some of his favorite characters as well as rejuvenate Allan, his effort ultimately just quite doesn't achieve its desired results. The Ancient Allan seems to lack much of the energy of the earlier novels. To be expected, of course, as Haggard was working on his tenth iteration of Quatermain and doing so as an elderly writer whose spirit clearly did not match that employed in the earlier adventures of Quatermain. Nonetheless, it's a passable read. And it's satisfying to to see Lord and Lady Ragnall once again, albeit in different guises. And very much enjoyable to encounter Hans as the Ethiopian monarch, Bes. Of course, there is also Allan, once more in the prime of his life.

Haggard has written an appealing series. He's done so even as he telegraphs every event ahead of time, at the beginning of every book and every chapter. There are no surprises in his novels. There are moments of fulfillment, instead, as there should be in genre fiction. After all, for close on to three decades, readers of Haggard would have already known Allan's final fate, which was written of in 1887, in Allan Quatermain. It's all just a matter of getting back there. And that is what always leaves such a melancholy feeling after each novel. ( )

This was not as good as HRH's earlier Quatermain books. It has a great framing device sending the hero into a previous existence, but the past life story itself isn't terribly exciting. Still it is well told, as HRH is an excellent writer with a great command of the language so you can still enjoy it for the writing itself.
There are many writers I read more for the enjoyment of HOW they write rather than WHAT they write (eg Hammett), and there are others who tell good stories even though their writing borders on awful, (eg Walter Gibson's SHADOW novels), but with Haggard you get to enjoy both. So even though this is 'lesser Haggard' it is still miles above many other writers in the field. ( )